January 2009 MMA News Archive

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ESPN's Franklin McNeil reported on MMA Live's weigh-in special that Wanderlei Silva will finally take the plunge down to middleweight. Silva made the decision after going 1-3 in his last three fights at 205.

Matt Lindland says the only injury he suffered was hurt pride after being stopped in 37 seconds by Vitor Belfort at Affliction 2.
Lindland was caught with an overhand left that dropped him unconscious immediately, yet Belfort was still able to land three or four punches to his prone opponent before the referee stepped in.
The result was a frighteningly drawn-out period of unconsciousness on Lindland’s part, but he says subsequent tests have revealed no lasting damage.

A rematch between WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and number one contender Donald Cerrone is already in the planning stages, according to a CBSSports.com report by FiveOuncesOfPain.com and 15Rounds.com contributor Gary Herman.
WEC Vice President Peter Dropick not only confirmed the possible rematch, but said that Varner’s home state of Arizona is being considered as a potential destination.

Jon Fitch says it’s the fight, and not his spot on the card, that motivates him to put on a good performance.
“I don’t worry about that stuff, for me, as long as I’m fighting a top opponent, and getting paid well, I have no complaints,” he told MMAWeekly Radio.

With his last fight in August 2008, Larson was looking forward to competing again soon, but his March 1 fight has now been cancelled. The UFC offered Larson the chance to fight in either March or April and the Minnesota native said with a baby on the way this month, he opted to fight on the April 1 UFC Fight Night card instead.
While his opponent has not been finalized, MMAWeekly.com confirmed with sources close to the fight on Friday that Larson's opponent will likely be UFC newcomer, Jesse Sanders.

Sunday's Super Bowl now will feature our "Super Crush". A new Pepsi commercial that will debut during the game will feature MMA star Gina Carano alongside Bruce Lee as part of Pepsi's new advertising campaign debuting in the spot.

The Fertitta brothers had a simple plan for Manny Gamburyan: beat Rob Emerson and start fresh as a WEC featherweight.
It was a chance for the Armenian to be a big fish in a little pond. Gamburyan had been plying his trade as a lightweight for years – fighting for free, he says, for his first eight fights – but since his entrance into the UFC at the conclusion of “The Ultimate Fighter” season five, he had been acutely aware of his frame.
“I’m the smallest guy in the UFC, and Brock Lesnar’s the biggest guy in the world,” he told MMAWeekly.com.
And it never suited Gamburyan to admit he was undersized in a field of taller fighters who cut as much as 20 pounds to meet him.
“In myself, I can see myself being on top of him in a fight,” Gamburyan said of the current heavyweight champ.
Before he was ever nicknamed “The Anvil,” Gamburyan was “The Pitbull.” Not the biggest dog, but the one who wouldn’t let you go if he sunk his teeth in.
“Why am I saying that?” he continues. “I fought Sean Sherk three rounds when I was eighteen years old.”..................

Talk to most mixed martial artists about their professional debuts, and they'll describe a smoke-filled bar with peanut shells on the floor or the partially covered parking lot of some small-time casino.
Talk to American Top Team's Dan Cramer (0-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on Sunday, and he'll have a slightly different tale.

“On our feet it’s the same fight. Stephens is a brawler but, once it hits the ground, it’s going to be an entirely different fight. Hermes is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu; Stephens isn’t as good as him on the ground. He’s going to come out and try to knock me out. He doesn’t want to fight me on the ground. Hermes was a bigger fight but this is a little easier fight for me. I was training since early December for Franca. Someday we will fight, especially after what he’s been saying about me being lucky I’m not fighting him. The change of opponents could have been a problem if the replacement had an entirely different style. Stephens may have quicker hands and he’s tough, but it’ll be a similar fight. It’s going to be a great fight and there’s nothing like headlining a UFC show.”

Cage Rage and Palace Fighting Championship veteran Xavier Foupa-Pokam and middleweight Denis Kang have signed bout agreements to meet at UFC 97. While not yet officially announced by the organization, UFC 97 is tentatively scheduled for April 18 in Montreal.

With fights down the road against top contenders like Kenny Florian and Thiago Alves, Penn insists it's not about titles necessarily, but finding the right opponents, and he knows UFC president Dana White will do anything to make the super fights happen.
"It's really about the particular match-up," answered Penn when asked if it's about weight class or just fighting the best regardless of weight. "People like to watch good fights, everybody wants to see the best guys compete. In boxing, like Dana says, a million times it never got to happen.
"No matter what you say about Dana, or anybody says about him, he really does try to put the two best guys together and he has proven it time and time again. If he could get Fedor to fight one of his guys, within whatever his ideas are someone under their contract, he would try to put the best fight together that he could."
It's also been brought up numerous times that if Penn is able to defeat St. Pierre, fans around the world could ask for a match-up pitting him against who many regard as the pound-for-pound king, Anderson Silva. White continuously insists that the fight between Penn and Silva would not happen, and the current lightweight champion says it may be harder to make happen than what some people think.
"Honestly, 185's not even on my mind right now. And it's like the more you talk to Anderson Silva, the more he's such a nice guy, the more you don't want to fight him. He is just the nicest person," stated Penn.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): How’s the knee?
Stephan Bonnar: Great. It feels good.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You trained for a long time in Chicago under Carlson Gracie until his passing in 2006. You’ve also worked with Mark DellaGrotte and Sityodtong, and now you’re with Xtreme Couture. Now that you’ve relocated to Vegas and have access to a lot of different trainers and sparring partners, how would you compare this experience to your days back in Chicago?
Stephan Bonnar: You know, it’s just a lot easier. I still go to a couple different gyms, but it seems like everything’s at my fingertips. Every gym is like within two miles of the other one. I got great sparring partners at Couture, I got a great jiu-jitsu teacher up at Sergio Penha’s, which is a few miles from there.
In Chicago, I’d get some good sparring, at some boxing gyms or with Arlovski, but it was a lot more difficult. I was traveling a lot more, going all over. But (in Vegas) you got a lot more places, a lot of different guys. It feels like everything out here is really close and convenient, not too far out of the way.
In Chicago, I was going up to Miguel Torres’ school a couple of times a week for MMA work. I tried to make it to Duke Roufus’ like twice a week for Muay Thai — that was in Milwaukee, that was killing me. And then also with the boxing too, I had Arlovski, I had some guys that jabbed, but even then, it’d be something I’d have to set up. I’d have to make calls and ask, are you going to go to the gym today? You gonna do sparring?
Down here, I just go to Couture’s and show up there, and there’s a bunch of guys to work with.

Ryoto (Lyoto) Machida has heard it before. People talk the talk about his style and tactics. But despite all the criticism he stands behind his style and feels very comfortable and confident going into his fight with Thiago Silva tomorrow at UFC 94.

Hermes Franca Update
After having to pull out of UFC Ultimate Fight Night 18, Hermes Franca informed PDG that he will be having surgery in the next two weeks to repair a torn ACL on his knee and when he expects to return to the cage.
On how long he expects to be out of the UFC cage:
“I have to make sure that I take care of my injury and fully heal. I don’t care how long it takes as long as I am 100% when I return. Whether it takes eight months or one year, I want to recuperate to full health.”
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